The stem of a beautifully beaded pipe points towards
the west in preparation
for prayer. Looking closer, the object it rests upon
reveals itself to be a buffalo skull. The sacred pipe
plays a significant role in the traditional religious
life of our Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara people.

Wooden ceremonial pipe,
sketch by Gilbert Wilson (Wilson: 1929)

Sweat Lodge

The frame of a sweat lodge waits expectantly for
the next ceremony within a few hundred yards of a housing
complex near Mandaree, the last stronghold of the Hidatsa
people on the Fort Berthold Reservation. The sweat lodge
ceremony is the most commonly practiced ritual on the
reservation, a source of renewal and purification from
the stress of daily life.

Sweat
lodge
Photo by Calvin Grinnell

A Turtle Effigy

Photo
by Calvin Grinnell

Within traditional Hidatsa territory,
on lands later shared with the Mandans, there is a turtle
effigy on the edge of a high ridge. The turtle feature
measures twenty-one feet from head to tail and is thought
to be at least several hundred years old.
The tribal affiliation of the creators is unknown. Some
tribes, however, such as the Ojibway, Blackfoot, Sioux,
Mandan, and Hidatsa, recognize the importance of the
turtle in their religious beliefs and hunting ceremonies.

This story was told to anthropologist Alfred Bowers
by Crows Heart (a Mandan - Hidatsa man) from his memory
of a hunting expedition in the late 1860's:

Crows
Heart, 1908 photo
Courtesy of Three Tribes Museum

Photo
by Calvin Grinnell

"The next
night we camped by a circle of stones in the form of
a turtle. The gods had arranged these stones, the older
man said, for none living had ever seen one of these
effigies made. There was a hill nearby and on it was
a pile of rocks. The turtle's head was pointed to the
river because turtles stay in the water so the gods
must have arranged all the turtle outlines in that direction.

"This is the only effigy I ever saw but heard
that the old people knew of many others down the river
near their old villages and would go there to make offerings.
Anyone could make offerings of knives, pieces of hides,
or dry meat and other things to eat when asking for
rain or other good luck such as living to be old. If
they had children, they would ask the gods that go with
the turtle to send good luck. To give to the turtle
was the same as giving to all the other gods that went
with the bundle.

"While we stopped near the turtle, people made
offerings to the turtle and the other gods that went
with it. Some left knives but in the olden times the
flint knife was given, for the flint was the sign of
the big birds who go with the turtle and the other gods
in the Missouri and the creeks around.

"After we moved on from this turtle it was so foggy
one day that the leader could hardly find his way. The
hunters had to hold each other's hands to keep from
getting lost. An Arikara brought a knife and gave it
to Clam Necklace (Mandan with a Thunder or Big Bird
bundle) and asked him to try to clear the fog. Clam
Necklace took the knife and marked out the shape of
a turtle on the ground. When he finished shaping the
turtle, he prayed to the turtle, telling him that the
people could not go any farther and asked the turtle
to clear the fog away. Then he stuck the knife in front
of the turtle image, saying that the knife belonged
to the turtle and the other six things in the water.
It was not long afterwards, and while the men were standing
around the image, that the fog cleared away from where
the turtle lay. Then it cleared out in a circle around
the turtle, growing larger and larger, until the fog
entirely disappeared. Those who were connected with
the big birds and the snakes of the Okipa were the ones
to pray" (Bowers: 1965).

Turtle and other effigies are rare and fragile resources.
Vehicle traffic, unauthorized digging, souvenir collection,
and cultivation have destroyed many of these sites.

The first two of the stories told here were written
by John Hunts Along, a young Hidatsa Indian. The first
story follows:
Long before Lake Sakakawea...

"There is a lake on the bottom lands of
the Missouri River between Shell Creek and Elbowoods
on the reservation. The old people say that, not many
years ago, this lake was very deep. In those times there
were people living in the lake, under the water. Many
who passed there used to hear the sound of voices, as
the dwellers in the lake were talking or singing. Often
also dogs were heard barking, and sometimes the sound
of the war drum came from under the water when the lake
people were having their dances.
Now this lake is only a few feet deep in the deepest
places. The old people say that one of the missionaries
put poison in the lake and either killed the people
there or made them go away. The poison made the lake
dry up and become shallow also."

Adapted
from 1884 George Cram Map, Dakota.Courtesy of South Dakota State Historical Society

Sun
Dogs, by Matthew Hastings. From the Midwest Jesuit Archives,
De Smetiana papaers, Linton Album.
Used with permission from the Midwest Jesuit Archives,
St. Louis, MO.

The next story tells how John Hunts Along got
the Indian name of John Hunts Along, the Man who stands
up in the air:

"He bought the name from his grandfather, Hairy
Coat, who obtained it in the following manner. One night
while sleeping, he dreamed that he saw the sun standing
a little ways above the western horizon. As he looked
the sun became a man and talked to him. The sun man
told him that he would help him in all he undertook,
and told him to make a big shield with the sun painted
on it for his medicine. When Hairy Coat woke up he took
his name from this man in the sun, and he made a shield
as the man had directed. This shield he sold with the
name to his grandson.
Hairy Coat was a great medicine man; he could make it
rain or hail whenever he wished, and he could go into
a fight and never be injured by the enemies' weapons.
Once when the Sioux were beating the Hidatsa he made
a big hail storm come up, which frightened and confused
the Sioux so that they ran away."

The following story tells how a man acquired
his guardian spirit, the rabbit:

"Some men went out one time
to get into pits so as to catch war eagles. As they
were returning toward evening one man stopped on the
way and sat down. As he was looking around he saw an
eagle chasing a rabbit. The rabbit was running round
and round in a circle, and every little while the eagle
would make a swoop for him. At each swoop the eagle
would come nearer to catching the rabbit. The rabbit
kept drawing closer and closer to the man, and as the
eagle made a last great swoop the rabbit jumped into
the man's lap and the eagle failed to get him.
Then the eagle said to the man, 'Put him down! I am
hungry and want to eat him.'
The rabbit said to the man, 'Save me! If you do I will
make you very renowned.'
Then the eagle said, 'Put him down. I will help you.
Whatever I say is true. My feet never touch the ground,
and whatever I undertake I never fail.'
The rabbit answered, 'It is true that my feet are on
the ground, but whatever I attempt, I too succeed in.'
And the man saved the rabbit, and the rabbit made him
powerful, and always helped him in times of trouble."

(eagle and rabbit images courtesy of North Dakota Game
& Fish)

Background:
Courtesy of the Linden-Museum Stuttgart,
photo by Anatol Dreyer